A new study published in Nature Geoscience indicates the increased melting of Arctic sea ice is linked to colder winters in parts of Europe, Asia and North America. The study looked at a key region of Arctic ice melt in the Barents-Kara Sea, north of Scandinavia and west of Russia. It found that decreasing ice cover in this region doubles the chances of unusually cold winters across wide areas to the south and east. Jennifer Francis, a research professor at Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, was the first to suggest this link between Arctic ice loss and colder winters. “There’s only about half as much sea ice coverage in the Arctic now as there was only 30 years ago,” Francis says. “It’s been disappearing at an amazing rate…One of those regions where the ice is disappearing the fastest is [in] Barents-Kara Sea.”

It may sound like science fiction, but it may be closer to science fact. A coalition of researchers are trying to use cloning to bring extinct animals, like the passenger pigeon, back from the dead. Meanwhile, some scientists are worried this will dist…